Bitcoin Price Manipulated? Wouldn’t Doubt It

The past year has seen many famous financial influencers bash Bitcoin. But is this all some sort of tactic to manipulate its price? Evidence and speculation may indicate yes.

The Skeptics

Over the past 18 months or so Jamie Dimon, George Soros, and Goldman Sachs have all publicly slammed Bitcoin.

September 12, 2017 – CNBC reported Jamie Dimon claiming Bitcoin to be a fraud. Dimon continued to explain – “It’s just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed”.

January 25, 2018 – Forbes reported Georges Soros commenting that “[c]ryptocurrency is a misnomer and is a typical bubble, which is always based on some kind of misunderstanding”…“Bitcoin is not a currency because a currency is supposed to be a stable store of value and the currency that can fluctuate 25% in a day can’t be used for instance to pay wages because wages drop by 25% in a day. It’s a speculation. Based on a misunderstanding”.

February 7, 2018 – CNBC reported Goldman Sachs’ Steve Strongin mentioning a lack of “intrinsic value” for crypto assets. He also added his opinion that current (as of Feb. 7) crypto assets would probably not see any long-term success.

The Video

A recent video has the crypto community talking about Bitcoin manipulation. On July 27th, YouTube account “XRP” published an interview between TV producer Glenn Beck, and cryptoanalyst Teeka Tiwari.

Teeka Tiwari is part of the famed Palm Beach Research Group LLC, which produces the popular “Palm Beach Letter”, and “Palm Beach Confidential”.

The Palm Beach Confidential report gives recommendations on cryptocurrencies. The report has a hefty price tag of $5000, and is fairly widely known in the crypto community. However, Palm Beach Confidential was reportedly discontinued until possibly 2019 or later.

The Manipulation

In the interview, Tiwari mentions a history of mainstream and institutional negativity, correlating with booms occurring in the years following. He explains these institutions and big players suppressed price with negative public comments, only to invest behind the scenes at cheaper prices.

Tiwari explains how this happened in the 1990s with the tech stock boom.

When Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan) called Bitcoin a fraud, Bitcoin dropped 24% in price. The same weekend, research from Tiwari’s group found JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley to have bought into Bitcoin in large amounts.

On January 24, Geroge Soros called Bitcoin a bubble. Bitcoin then proceeded to fall 44% according to the video. Just a few months later, Bloomberg reported on George Soros and his interest in the crypto markets.

Tiwari states he knew Goldman was setting up a crypto trading operation, despite their outward negative comments, as well as denials of any sort of operation. A few months later in May, the NY Times reported on Goldman Sachs starting a Bitcoin trading operation. According to Tiwari, Goldman also “put $400 million to buy a cryptocurrency trading platform”.

Referencing these comments occurring relatively close together on the timeline, Tiwari states, “I can’t prove collusion, but ya know – it walks like a duck, it quacks like a duck – it’s probably a duck”.

Previous Bitcoin Negativity

July 25 saw an article written by Tiwari with additional interesting information. He recounts the media’s response to Bitcoin, and a few of the times Bitcoin was declared dead, dying, etc.

Last week, Crypto Insider reported on recent SEC comments confirming their position that crypto markets are not ready for an ETF, due to manipulation.“What investors expect is that trading in the commodity that underlies that ETF makes sense and is free from the risk of manipulation”, explained the SEC’s Jay Clayton.

According to Tiwari, said manipulation may also largely come from traditional financial market players and institutions. And as he recounted from the tech stock boom, that manipulation is not specific to crypto.

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